Vale has increased its initial coal production target at the Moatize mine in Mozambique by 76% and is planning to quadruple that result in 2012.
Vale sales manager Marcelo Matos said Moatize mine is expected to produce 1.5Mt of coal in 2011, which will increase to 6.3Mt in 2012.
According to the company's previous estimates, the coal output from Moatize mine for 2011 was 850,000t.
During the first phase of the Moatize project, the production is expected to reach 11Mtpa, about 8.5Mt of which will be metallurgical coal and the rest will be softer thermal coal.
In the second phase of the project, which is scheduled to begin in 2014, the output will be doubled to 22Mtps.
Vale is planning to spend $422m on the Moatize project this year.
